diff --git a/comfy_api_nodes/nodes_kling.py b/comfy_api_nodes/nodes_kling.py
index 8963c335d..9a37ccc53 100644
--- a/comfy_api_nodes/nodes_kling.py
+++ b/comfy_api_nodes/nodes_kling.py
@@ -1459,6 +1459,7 @@ class OmniProEditVideoNode(IO.ComfyNode):
             node_id="KlingOmniProEditVideoNode",
             display_name="Kling 3.0 Omni Edit Video",
             category="api node/video/Kling",
+            essentials_category="Video Generation",
             description="Edit an existing video with the latest model from Kling.",
             inputs=[
                 IO.Combo.Input("model_name", options=["kling-v3-omni", "kling-video-o1"]),
diff --git a/comfy_api_nodes/nodes_recraft.py b/comfy_api_nodes/nodes_recraft.py
index 4d1d508fa..c60cfbc4a 100644
--- a/comfy_api_nodes/nodes_recraft.py
+++ b/comfy_api_nodes/nodes_recraft.py
@@ -833,6 +833,7 @@ class RecraftVectorizeImageNode(IO.ComfyNode):
             node_id="RecraftVectorizeImageNode",
             display_name="Recraft Vectorize Image",
             category="api node/image/Recraft",
+            essentials_category="Image Tools",
             description="Generates SVG synchronously from an input image.",
             inputs=[
                 IO.Image.Input("image"),
diff --git a/comfy_extras/nodes_audio.py b/comfy_extras/nodes_audio.py
index 5d8d9bf6f..a395392d8 100644
--- a/comfy_extras/nodes_audio.py
+++ b/comfy_extras/nodes_audio.py
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ class EmptyLatentAudio(IO.ComfyNode):
             node_id="EmptyLatentAudio",
             display_name="Empty Latent Audio",
             category="latent/audio",
+            essentials_category="Audio",
             inputs=[
                 IO.Float.Input("seconds", default=47.6, min=1.0, max=1000.0, step=0.1),
                 IO.Int.Input(
@@ -185,6 +186,7 @@ class SaveAudioMP3(IO.ComfyNode):
             search_aliases=["export mp3"],
             display_name="Save Audio (MP3)",
             category="audio",
+            essentials_category="Audio",
             inputs=[
                 IO.Audio.Input("audio"),
                 IO.String.Input("filename_prefix", default="audio/ComfyUI"),
diff --git a/comfy_extras/nodes_image_compare.py b/comfy_extras/nodes_image_compare.py
index 8e9f809e6..3d943be67 100644
--- a/comfy_extras/nodes_image_compare.py
+++ b/comfy_extras/nodes_image_compare.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ class ImageCompare(IO.ComfyNode):
             display_name="Image Compare",
             description="Compares two images side by side with a slider.",
             category="image",
+            essentials_category="Image Tools",
             is_experimental=True,
             is_output_node=True,
             inputs=[
diff --git a/comfy_extras/nodes_images.py b/comfy_extras/nodes_images.py
index 4c57bb5cb..a8223cf8b 100644
--- a/comfy_extras/nodes_images.py
+++ b/comfy_extras/nodes_images.py
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ class ImageCropV2(IO.ComfyNode):
             search_aliases=["trim"],
             display_name="Image Crop",
             category="image/transform",
+            essentials_category="Image Tools",
             inputs=[
                 IO.Image.Input("image"),
                 IO.BoundingBox.Input("crop_region", component="ImageCrop"),
diff --git a/comfy_extras/nodes_post_processing.py b/comfy_extras/nodes_post_processing.py
index 4a0f7141a..06626f9dd 100644
--- a/comfy_extras/nodes_post_processing.py
+++ b/comfy_extras/nodes_post_processing.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ class Blend(io.ComfyNode):
             node_id="ImageBlend",
             display_name="Image Blend",
             category="image/postprocessing",
+            essentials_category="Image Tools",
             inputs=[
                 io.Image.Input("image1"),
                 io.Image.Input("image2"),
diff --git a/nodes.py b/nodes.py
index dd9298b18..03dcc9d4a 100644
--- a/nodes.py
+++ b/nodes.py
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@ class CLIPTextEncode(ComfyNodeABC):
 
 
 class ConditioningCombine:
+    ESSENTIALS_CATEGORY = "Image Generation"
     @classmethod
     def INPUT_TYPES(s):
         return {"required": {"conditioning_1": ("CONDITIONING", ), "conditioning_2": ("CONDITIONING", )}}
@@ -1778,6 +1779,7 @@ class LoadImage:
         return True
 
 class LoadImageMask:
+    ESSENTIALS_CATEGORY = "Image Tools"
     SEARCH_ALIASES = ["import mask", "alpha mask", "channel mask"]
 
     _color_channels = ["alpha", "red", "green", "blue"]
@@ -1886,6 +1888,7 @@ class ImageScale:
         return (s,)
 
 class ImageScaleBy:
+    ESSENTIALS_CATEGORY = "Image Tools"
     upscale_methods = ["nearest-exact", "bilinear", "area", "bicubic", "lanczos"]
 
     @classmethod